I own a red south pacific coast big hauler that has a working backup tender light, its a third generation.

Thanks Bill, thats a great idea, I'll try it.       

not very loose, and I am familiar with that fix since I have done it on the bumblebee.

I have a bumblebee annie and a Rio Grande Southrern annie, both with a bit of a lope.  Do all annies have this peculiar gate.  The bumblebee had a bit of flash left on the main drive gear which I removed and after about a year of running the lope has subsided to almost unnoticable.  The RGS had a malformed piece in the valve gearing which I corrected but it lopes worst than the bumblebee did.  The RGS is still what I would consider not broken in, but this is going to be hard to solve.  I also have a piece of valve gearing that seems to be stuck on the bumblebee, its the highest part of the gearing, and is shaped like a teardrop on its side.  The RGS with the same gearing moves and seems seperate from the shaft that runs under the boiler.  The bmblbee seems to be fused to the same shaft.  Maybe one is made different than the other, I dont know, can anyone help with this?           

I just received enough ball bearing wheelsets to do 7 cars, this is what I found out about Sanval wheels.  The axles are long enough for all my js cars and gondola.  I was planning on using regular ball bearing wheels on the js cars with two axles being aristo with elect. pickups until someone posted the axle size as being a bit short.  Then I thought I'll just use the LGB with the pickups.  Beware that Sanval bb wheels are not the same size as bachmann stock wheels or LGB wheels with elect pic/ups.  Sanval wheels are a bit smaller.  Sanval bb wheels also do not turn as easy as LGB, causing the whole axle to turn in the trucks instead of the wheels.  The sealed ballbearings are a tiny bit stiff.  I know they rotate on the corners, but on the straights the axle will turn sometimes.  All of this does not bother me that much, but the size difference leaves me with no way to use bb wheels to power my js cars, the size difference is enough to make the trucks crooked.  If you turned the LGB wheels they would continue to rotate forever it seemed, the Sanval wheels will turn just a few times.  Maybe that changes after years of use, We'll find out I guess.  I bought the blackened wheels and like the way they look,  I take a silver permanent marker to the wheel flanges, it looks great. 

I have a paperback book that I purchased last spring when I took the Durango & Silverton run.  The book entitled Americas Railroad - The official Guidebook,  by Robert T. Royem.  In the book appears a Den. and Rio Grande system map with the logo promoting the "Scenic Line of the World", it shows standard gauge lines highlighted in red, and narrow gage lines marked in black.  At the bottom right of the map is the makers name of - Knight, Leonard & Co., Engr's Chicago.  What a cool map, I love the steam era, and especially the colorado narrow gage legacy of the Den Rio Grande, and Rio Grande Southern.  Do these maps still exist, perhaps a remake?  Love to frame it and display one of these in the old train room.  I am currently runnning a Bachmann D&RGW BumbleBee annie, and a RGS annie on a 100' shelf system.

Just wondering if aristocraft ballbearing wheelsets with the electrical pickups will fit my JS Bachmann rolling stock.  Hard to find anything LGB of lately. 

The VCS realroad Whistlestop II would be just the thing im looking for if it worked as you describe... As far as I know  VCS realroad discontinued all of their  products as of 2006.

The one step critter control sounds great, just what I need to do.  Problem is I am not running battery power.  Just a simple track powered loop.  I have not talked with the folks from Dallee Electronics yet.  Took a look at the website,  a bit confusing,  might need several devices woking together to do such a simple task.  I also have not received an email back from Walthers about the "intermintant start and stop device" they sell.  Ill keep trying, cant imagine what it would take to run two locos on one track {automated}. ferget aboout it.   

Wow I would purchase the automated start and stop device from peerless ind. if it were for g scale..  I could never build the other device, sounds like it could be a rather clunky stop, kinda crude.  I see the impute is 12volts on the peerless device I guess the kicker would be the limited output for an A scale application.

Im looking for a way to simply start and or stop an Annie without it slamming to a stop or spinning to a start electronically.  I thought of the bitswitch option but Im not investing in dcc.  Is there anyone that has invented a solidstate throttle that can be simply triggered like the bitswitch for simple analog operation.  I have a simple analog loop of 100 ft on a shelf system and would like to keep it automated, a few starts and stops ect.  I have heard of a  few designs that use big capcitors ect.. but why not a solidstate reostat like the radio controlled throttle on my rc dirt buggy? Help.....   

Does anyone know the manufacturer of this particular item listed at the Wholesale Trains website - DZ1010, maybe I could just contact them to find out the exact dimensions.

I first posted this on the g scale forum, but I figure I might have better luck here.  Still searching for a stock g scale crossing gate.  The one I like is the Crossing Flasher and Gate set with 2 Block Signal Detectors.  Listed as Mfg. Part Num. DZ1010, at the Wholesale train website.  Trouble with this is its listed as an O scale item.  Anybody actually know what the height of these signals are?  If tall enough I would purchase them.

Still searching for a stock g scale crossing gate.  The one I like is the Crossing Flasher and Gate set with 2 Block Signal Detectors.  Listed as Mfg. Part Num. DZ1010,  at the Wholesale train website.  Trouble is this is listed as an O scale item.    Anybody actually know what the height of these signals are?  If tall enough I would purchase them. 

Thank you for the detailed reply,  Im curious how long the coach will remain lit on one nine volt battery?  Sounds like a better idea than track power to me, even though I have an automated setup indoors.  Just a display.